BIG RAPIDS, MI — A teenager from the Canton area was pulled from the Muskegon River this weekend and flown to the hospital after nearly drowning on a tubing trip.

Big Rapids police said the 16-year-old boy fell out of his tube under a foot bridge behind the Big Rapids Middle School and did not resurface.

The boy was found about 20 minutes later near the mouth of Mitchell Creek and rescuers were able to resuscitate him. He was taken to Roben-Hood Airport in Big Rapids and airlifted to Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital in Grand Rapids.

The near-drowning occurred on Saturday, Aug. 16, about 4:30 p.m.

The boy was part of a Wayne County youth group from the Muslim Community of Western Suburbs (MCWS), which was camping at the Cran-Hill Ranch near Rodney. A posting on the group's website identified him as Abid Mallick, 16.

A vice president of the MCWS said Mallick was in critical condition in the Intensive Care Unit and was undergoing surgery on Sunday.